CHAPTER XII
TOMMY FINDS A FRIEND
So rapidly did the machine shoot down the descent that it almost seemedthe curved road was rushing to meet the travelers. Again and again Nedtried the brakes, but without avail. He had shut off the power at thefirst indication that something was wrong.
"We can never make that turn!" exclaimed Bob.
"I'm afraid not," agreed Jerry.
They were all clinging to the sides of the car, while Ned gripped thesteering wheel with a desperate hold.
"Look out for the turn!" cried the professor as they came to the sharpcurve.
But, to the surprise of all, Ned, instead of shifting the wheel in atleast an attempt to swing around the half circle kept straight on thecourse. The boy had resolved on another plan.
Directly in front of him, and to the left of the road was a big fieldof tall waving Pampas grass, the plumes nodding eight feet above theground. It was shut off from the thoroughfare by a frail wooden fence.
"I'm going to steer into the grass!" cried Ned. "It's our only chance!"
The next instant there was a splintering sound as the auto crashedthrough the fence, which offered no more resistance, because of thegreat speed, than a paper hoop does to a circus performer. Then itseemed to the travelers as though they had been plunged into a tossing,waving sea of grass.
The tall Pampas plumes and the stems wrapped themselves about the boysand the professor, almost choking them by the pollen that was shakenoff. The feathery-like tops tickled them in the eyes, nose and mouth as,carried by the runaway auto, they were dashed through them.
But the grass had just the effect Ned had intended and hoped for.It clogged the wheels of the machine, and though soft, offered somuch resistance that the machine soon began to slow down, as does alocomotive when it runs into a snow drift.
After plowing through the field for about two hundred feet the car cameto a final stop, with a little jolt.
"Santa Maria! Caramba!" yelled a voice and then followed such a stringof Spanish that the boys thought they had run down a whole camp ofMexican herders.
"Did we hit any one?" asked Jerry, peering forward as well as he couldthrough the tall grass.
"Caramba! Hit any one! The Americano pirates have killed Don Elvardo!"exclaimed the unseen one. "You have broken--!" and then followed such aconfusion of words that the boys could not understand.
"Have we broken your leg?" asked Jerry, speaking in Spanish this time.
"Santa Maria! No! You have broken the cigarette I just rolled!" andwith that the grass parted in front of the auto, and a little Mexican,wearing a suit profusely trimmed with silver braid, showed himself.
The boys felt like laughing as they beheld the woe-begone face of DonElvardo. In his hand he held the remains of a cigarette.
"Behold!" he went on tragically. "I am peacefully walking in my field,looking over my crop of Pampas, when I feel a desire to smoke. I sit medown and roll a cigarette. I am about to light it, when--Santa Maria!There is a rushing sound of ten thousand imps of darkness. My grass ismowed down as if by a sickle in the hands of a giant. I turn in fear!I see something coming! I can not tell what it is, for the tall grasshides it! I turn to flee! The infernal thing keeps after me! Presto!Caramba! It hits me so--"
Don Elvardo illustrated by slapping himself vigorously on the thigh.
"Then I fall! I am crushed! I am killed! I die in pain and fear! Iarise! Behold, senor Americanos, my cigarette is broken!"
"We're very sorry, of course," said Jerry politely. "But you see ourauto ran away on the hill, and as the brakes would not work, the onlything to save our lives was to steer into this field. We did not knowyou were here, or we would have sent around to your house to askpermission to enter," added the lad sarcastically.
"But I am here!" snapped the Mexican.
"So we see," admitted Jerry. "We are willing to pay for any damage wehave done."
The Mexican's eyes sparkled, and he rubbed his hands as if inanticipation.
"That alters the case," said Don Elvardo. "The Americano senors arewelcome ten thousand times to my field. I bid you welcome. I salute you.Pay. Oh, yes! It is but right that you should pay!" Again he rubbed hishands together.
"About what would you say it was worth?" asked Ned.
"I am no miser," replied the Mexican. "I do not wish to insult myfriends the Americanos. I will only charge them for the damage to thegrass. The broken fence is of no moment. Pay me one hundred dollars andI will say no more about the affair."
"He's a robber!" said Jerry in a low voice. "We haven't done fivedollars' damage to his crop and the fence combined."
"I guess he will whistle for his one hundred dollars," said Ned.
Don Elvardo heard him.
"So!" he exclaimed. "You will not pay me one little hundred dollars forthe damage. Caramba! Then it is I who shall at once lodge a complaintwith the authorities. We will see if there is a law in the land, or ifcrazy Americanos can spoil a poor man's crop and pay nothing. We shallsee!"
"Offer him ten dollars," suggested Bob. The boys consulted togethera minute or two. They wanted to be fair, but they did not care to berobbed. The professor had taken no part in the discussion. He seemed tobe intently examining the tall grass on either side of the machine.
Suddenly the scientist stepped from the side of the car, and rapidlymade his way to the front, where Don Elvardo stood. Mr. Snodgrass gazedintently at the Mexican. Then he gave a leap toward the Don, exclaimingas he did so:
"There it is! Right on your hat! Don't move an inch or it will jumpaway! I have it now! This is indeed a lucky day! Just a second and I'llhave it!"
With that the professor made a leap toward the Mexican with outstretchedhands.
"Santa Maria! Diavolo?" screamed Don Elvardo as he saw the scientistcoming for him. "Caramba! It is to murder me that you come!"
Then, calling for help at the top of his voice, the Mexican turned andfled in terror, his course being marked through the tall grass by thewave-like motion he imparted to the plumes in his haste.
"Why--why what in the world ails him?" asked Mr. Snodgrass.
"He probably thought you were going to choke him to death," said Jerrywith a laugh. "In fact your actions were not so very far from givingthat idea."
"Why bless my soul!" ejaculated the professor. "All I wanted was to geta fine specimen of a blue grasshopper from his big hat, where the insecthad alighted. It was worth about forty dollars."
"I saw some just as good in a city once for twenty dollars," put inTommy, "and they had more silver braid on."
"What! A grasshopper with silver braid on?" cried the scientist.
"I thought you said his hat was worth forty dollars," went on Tommy,somewhat embarrassed.
"I was speaking of the blue grasshopper," explained Mr. Snodgrass. "My,I am sorry to have missed that one."
"But you did a good service in scaring this Mexican away, as you did thechap with the ox cart," spoke Ned. "He might have made trouble for us."
"And we had better get out of here while we have the chance," saidJerry. "He may come back any minute."
Accordingly the auto was turned around, and run over the same courseby which it had entered the field. Otherwise it would have been almostimpossible to have advanced, so thick was the grass. The road regained,the machine was sent along it at good speed, for fear Don Elvardo orsome of his friends might appear.
"We had better stop and fix the brakes," suggested Ned, after an hour'srun.
"And get dinner at the same time," put in Bob. "We'll kill two stoneswith the same automobile, as the poem says."
"I guess you're a little twisted," remarked Ned, "but your intentionsare good."
A halt was made under a big tree, near a little stream, and soon a goodfire was built and dinner was being cooked.
It was found that some nuts had become loose on the brakes, and thistrouble Jerry soon remedied. After the meal they sat about and talked awhile.
"We'll soon be in Ne
w Mexico," remarked Jerry, consulting a small map.
"Will we?" asked Tommy. "I'm so glad."
"Why?"
"Because there's a man who was once a friend of my father at a placecalled Las Cruces. It's near the Rio Grande river. If we could go thereI know Mr. Douglass would take care of me."
"Then we'll go there," said Jerry. "It will be right on our route."
They all agreed this would be a good plan. That night the travelersstopped in a small village where they had good beds and meals. Theyresumed the journey next day, and for several days thereafter met withno mishaps as they speeded toward Las Cruces. They had left the lowlandsand were well up among the hills by this time.
One day, just at dusk, they rolled into Las Cruces and, after a littleinquiry found Mr. Douglass, who was very glad to see Tommy.
"I will be glad to take care of him for the present," he said.